Stay Cool - Ice Kona Coffee

Nothing is more refreshing on a hot summer day than a 100% Kona ice coffee. However, there is good ice coffee and bad ice coffee. Often ice coffee is just a way for coffee shops to dump old coffee. Good ice coffee is full bodied, robust and refreshing: bad ice coffee is bitter, stale, and weak.

There are a number of ways to make ice coffee, each one creates different flavors. Pick the one you like.

Traditional Ice Coffee

• Use freshly made Kona Coffee

Brew stronger than normal by adding more grounds or less water. Don’t use old brewed coffee, coffee does not age well. Oxygen eats up the flavor of coffee. If you grind coffee in the morning, within a few hours it will have lost most of its flavor.

• Use Kona Coffee ice cubes

When you have fresh coffee left over, pour it while it is still fresh into an ice tray and freeze it. Then put the cubes into plastic freezer bag. Pour over the brewed Kona Coffee over the ice cubes

• Ice coffee often gets weak and sour as the ice cubes melt. However, with coffee ice cube the coffee doesn’t get weaker. Do not pour hot coffee into an ordinary glass it may break. Another alternative is to pour the coffee into a closed container and shake the hot coffee with the coffee ice cubes. A metal cocktail shaker is perfect.

• Drink black or add cream and/or sugar

You can drink ice coffee black or with cream and sugar. It depends on what taste you want. Cream and sugar will block any subtle nuances in the Kona Coffee but it is still a refreshing summer drink.

Ice dripped coffee.

• Fill a carafe with ice equal to about 40% of your normal brew water
  You can estimate or you can use a scale to determine how much ice. One ounce of ice weighs about one gram. So if you know how many ounces of water you normally use then you can multiply 0.4 times that number to get the number of grams of ice.

• Drip brew Kona Coffee using the other 60% of the water into the carafe
  You can use either a manual or an automatic brewer. Both will work. The advantage of manual brewing is that you can get a better extraction. Dripping the coffee directly onto the ice slows down oxidation and increases the flavor.

Cold Brew Ice Coffee

The advantage of hot brewing coffee is that heat brings out the flavor oils in the grounds. If you drink ice coffee black hot brewing is the way to go. However, if you add cream and/or sugar to ice coffee then the nuances are lost and you should try cold brewing. Cold brewed coffee tends to be smooth without any subtle nuances. Cold brewed coffees have less caffeine and less acid than hot brewed coffee.Once you make the cold brew liquor it can be stored in the refrigerator ready for a quick ice coffee.

• Make cold brew Kona Coffee extract

Cold coffee can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time. So you can’t make too much. For every ounce of coffee you will add 4 ounces of water, so plan accordingly.

There are commercial cold brewers on the market ranging from a few dollars to thousands of dollars. However, you can brew using ordinary kitchen items. All you need is a grinder, a container and a some kind of filter.A french press will work for small amounts.

• Place medium-coarse ground coffee in a container and add four ounces of water for every ounce of coffee. Stir and seal. Let the mixture sit on the shelf or in the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours. Then decant the mixture through a filter into a carafe. Keep the brew in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

• Make Cold Brew Ice Coffee

Once you have the extract the rest is easy. Pour extract over ice in a glass. Pour an equal amount of cold water into the glass and enjoy. If you want to add cream just substitute for some of the water. Add sugar to taste.

Stay Cool.